1997 World History Hale-Bopp Comet NASA Mother Teresa (1910–1997) Archive Photos Princess Diana (1961–1997) Archive Photos 1997 Two Hutu sentenced to death in Rwandan genocide(Jan. 3).Floods cause wide damage in U.S. West(Jan. 5).Newt Gingrich reelected as House Speaker(Jan. 7).Hebron agreement signed; Israel gives up large part of West Bank city of Hebron(Jan. 16).U.S. shuttle joins Russian space station(Jan. 17).Gingrich found guilty of ethics violations(Jan. 17).President Clinton starts second term(Jan. 20).U.S., U.K., and France agree to freeze Nazis' gold loot(Feb. 3).O. J. Simpson found liable in civil suit(Feb. 5).Deng Xiaoping, Chinese leader, dead at 92(Feb. 19).Israeli government approves establishment of Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, a setback in Middle East peace process(Feb. 26). Tornadoeswreak havoc in Arkansas, Ohio, and Kentucky(March 3).State of anarchy in Albania when third of population loses savings because of pyramid schemes(March 13). Hale-Bopp cometis the closest it will be to Earth until 4397(March 22). Heaven's Gatecult members commit mass suicide in California(March 27).U.S. Appeals Court upholds California ban on affirmative action(April 8).U.S. judge upholds California marijuana law(April 11). Tiger Woodsbreaks multiple records in Masters golf tournament(April 13).Fire kills 300 pilgrims outside Mecca(April 15).Senate, 74–26, approves chemical-weapons treaty(April 24).Thousands flee North Dakota flood(April 27).Sergeant Major of the Army, Gene C. McKinney, charged in sex cases(May 7).Russian president Yeltsin signs Chechnya peace treaty(May 12).U.S.-Russian spaceship linkup in orbit ends(May 21).U.S. jobless rate for May reported 4.8%, lowest since 1973(June 6).European Union bolsters currency merger(June 16).Congress votes major tax cuts(June 26).Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule(June 30).U.S. spacecraft begins exploration of Mars(July 4).Andrew Cunanan murders fashion designer Gianni Versace(July 15). Khmer Rougehold trial of longtime leader Pol Pot(July 25).White House and GOP agree on measure to balance budget(July 28).U.S. spacecraft transmits thousands of pictures from Mars(Aug. 8).Clinton exercises new line-item veto(Aug. 11).Timothy J. McVeigh sentenced to death for Oklahoma City bombing(Aug. 14).Princess Diana, 36, killed with two others in Paris car crash(Aug. 31).Three Islamic suicide bombers kill four persons in Jerusalem(Sept. 4). Mother Teresadead at 87(Sept. 5).Swiss plan first payment to Holocaust victims(Sept. 17).Militant Taliban leaders seize Kabul(Sept. 27).Iraq expels all U.S. members of UN arms-inspection team(Oct. 29).GOP victorious in off-year elections(Nov. 4).Pakistani convicted in 1993 CIA killings(Nov. 10).Two convicted in New York World Trade Center bombing(Nov. 12).Egyptian Islamic militants kill 62 at Luxor tourist site(Nov. 17).FBI ends 16-month investigation of crash of Flight 800 off Long Island; denies sabotage(Nov. 18).European Union plans to admit six nations(Dec. 13).U.S. company launches first commercial spy satellite(Dec. 24).Paris court convicts “Carlos the Jackal” of murder(Dec. 24).